North Twin/South Twin/Galehead: Which trail to use?

[Y.L.]

Which way is the easiest: Up and down the Gale River Trail or up and down the North Twin Trail?

Thanks for your input,

Yves

 

[HockeyPuck]

I'd recommend the Gale River trail. I struggled across a difficult river crossings on the North Twin Trail during a spring hike, this time of year the crossings should be a hop, skip and jump.

 

[Tom Rankin]

Which way is the easiest: Up and down the Gale River Trail or up and down the North Twin Trail?

If you want to do all 3 peaks, I'd do it as a loop if I could. If you go up the Gale River Trail, you'll have to climb mighty S. Twin, at 4902', twice. If you go up the N. Twin trail, you'll have to climb both Twins twice.

I've been reading that the water levels are not too bad right now for the NTT.

I'm doing North Twin on 9/11 for Flags and might do S. Twin too if I have time.

 

[dr_wu002]

the Little River should be reasonably low. Otherwise, bring along the teva sandals for its 3 crossings.

At the first crossing of Little River, DON'T cross. Stay on the trail which is very obvious. This is the original trail that will take you to the Hale Firewarden's Trail. If you continue on it, eventually you'll come to the 2nd crossing, where the regular North Twin Trail crosses back to the east side of Little River. You'll pick up the regular trail here. Stay on that and make the 3rd crossing (which isn't as bad as the 1st and 2nd).

-Dr. Wu

 

[Mike P.]

Did the three with a car spotted in Spring 2003. We opted for up Gale River & down North Twin. At the time I think we were unsure if we would find any leftover snow near the top & decided up South Twin on Twinway in rotten snow was better than down it. Descending N Twin has some steep parts also but it has breaks too.

Other reason I'd do it that way is View from Hut & Galehead is so so at best, view from N. Twin look out is better, IMO, either way S> twin which is best by far is in middle.

 

[Gris]

The minority view

There's no "easy" way to do it as an in & out day hike, once you add Galehead. I would do a loop and go UP the N. Twin trail (it's steeper than Gale River) and DOWN Gale River - for the simple reason that it gets you up and over the relatively exposed summits of the Twins first. That direction also gives you a real easy walk out at the end, which you might appreciate if light or energy is fading. Plus, you can rest/refuel at the hut AFTER most of the work is done. (BTW - Galehead from the hut is like 30 min RT w no work required.) Weather permitting you'll have a great hike. South Twin is an awesome summit and both approach trails are beautiful as well. Good luck!

 

[roadtripper]

go with the loop

last weekend 'Marty' and I did a loop by driving to the North Twin Tr. trailhead. We parked our car there, and mountain biked 8 miles (80% downhill) on roads to the Gale River Tr. trailhead.

We climbed Galehead, then the Twins, then headed down the North Twin Trail, which made for quite an easy ending (stream crossings not a problem at all).

Definitely recommend a loop here....it made for a VERY enjoyable (and not so difficult) day....

 

[Eric Savage]

a growing minority

There's no "easy" way to do it as an in & out day hike, once you add Galehead. I would do a loop and go UP the N. Twin trail (it's steeper than Gale River) and DOWN Gale River - for the simple reason that it gets you up and over the relatively exposed summits of the Twins first. That direction also gives you a real easy walk out at the end, which you might appreciate if light or energy is fading. Plus, you can rest/refuel at the hut AFTER most of the work is done. (BTW - Galehead from the hut is like 30 min RT w no work required.) Weather permitting you'll have a great hike. South Twin is an awesome summit and both approach trails are beautiful as well. Good luck!

I'll second the clockwise motion. There's a nice view into the Twin Brook valley and up to the Twins just off of the trail about halfway up to Galehead - it's the best view you'll get from that peak. I actually catch it on the way down since it's a bit more noticeable when you're looking down on it.

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

or you could bushwhack back down to the Gale River Trail from the top of North Twin; I am told that "it is easy."